Ancient One
The Ancient One was the Sorcerer Supreme and the leader of the Masters of the Mystic Arts, who mentored Doctor Strange in the use of magic following his accident. She was challenged by a former student, Kaecilius, who had become corrupted by the Dark Dimension and sought to bring Dormammu to Earth. The Ancient One gathered her army of Masters of Mystic Arts but it was soon discovered that she had been lying to her students all these years and had been drawing her own power from the Dark Dimension, mortifying Karl Mordo. During one final battle, the Ancient One was fatally wounded and despite the best efforts of Doctor Strange and Christine Palmer, she accepted her fate and died. Biography Sorcerer Supreme The Ancient One is a woman of descent who helped Jonathan Pangborn to walk again using magic and tutored Karl Mordo, Kaecilius, Wong and many others in sorcery. She often draws power from the Dark Dimension to fuel her immortality but forbids others from doing the same. Retrieving the Bow and Arrow of Apollon To be added Stolen Spell When Kaecilius steals a spell from one of her books, the Book of Cagliostro, she drags the Zealots into the Mirror Dimension and expertly fights them by channeling magic through her Magic Fans. Using her expertise in the mystic arts, she battles at least a dozen of these Zealots head on. She bends reality to kill many of the Zealots but Kaecilius and a few others escape.Doctor Strange Meeting The Skeptic Karl Mordo brought Doctor Stephen Strange to the Ancient One at Kamar-Taj as the latter hoped she could mend his damaged hands. The Ancient One told Strange to expand his mind but Strange remained stubbornly skeptical. When Strange accused the Ancient One of being a liar, she pushed his Astral Form out of his body and then sent him through several dimensions and realities. She then sarcastically asked if he could find that in a gift shop. Strange begged her to teach him but she refused as his arrogance and headstrong attitude reminded her of Kaecilius. Mordo convinced her that Strange could be of use to them in fighting Kaecilius and she eventually let him study magic. Training Doctor Strange .]] The Ancient One showed Doctor Strange how spells work and that it takes years of practice to reach an advanced level. Having witnessed his difficulty in using magic, she promptly abandoned him on the top Mount Everest as an encouragement for him to finally work out how to wield his Sling Ring. Seeing this test, Karl Mordo declared "not again" suggesting that she had used this method of 'encouragement' before to varying success. Strange succeeded in returning Kamar-Taj again only to rapidly progress in magic so much that he found it difficult to work in the conditions offered. To help, the Ancient One offered him the Mirror Dimension where he could train without affecting the Physical World. The Final Battle Once Doctor Strange managed to fend off the Zealots from destroying the Sanctum Sanctorum in New York City, the Ancient One offers him the title of 'Master' and a position as Protector of the New York Sanctum, as Daniel Drumm had been killed by Kaecilius. Strange refused and alludes to her drawing power from the Dark Dimension, which she never outright denied, in order to fuel her immortality. She warned him to choose his next words carefully before leaving. once again.]] During the second attack on the Sanctum, the Ancient One saved Strange and Karl Mordo from the Zealots and fought them herself. She also confirmed that she does draw her power from the Dark Dimension when the symbol appears on her forehead. During the fight she used her Magic Fans to duel but was fatally wounded when she was stabbed by Kaecilius' Space Shard and thrown hundreds of stories towards the Physical World ground below. Death Though she was rushed to Metro-General Hospital, the Ancient One left her physical form and went out onto a balcony, prompting Strange's astral form to follow. Once outside, she explained that she never liked drawing power from the Dark Dimension but did so to help her protect the world. She proceeded to inform Strange that she always knew that would be the moment of her death, before telling him that he needed Mordo's rule-abiding nature just as Mordo needed his flexibility. She then revealed she was using her astral form to watch the snow fall one last time before taking Strange's hand and vanishing, signifying her death. Personality According to Karl Mordo, the Ancient One is "steadfast, but unpredictable; merciless, yet kind." This is shown when she was willing to kill multiple Zealots in combat and initially refuse to help Stephen Strange when he first came to Kamar-Taj due to his arrogance, though she did so for the sake of protecting the world from the rogue sorcerers and to ensure that other sorcerers did not become like Kaecilius and his followers. While she enforced rules on the Masters of the Mystic Arts against breaking the laws of nature or using their power for god-like feats, such as manipulating time or becoming immune of death, she was willing to break her own rules to continue to personally ensure that they were followed and that the world was safe, though she never wanted to do so. This lead her to draw power from the Dark Dimension to become immortal, an act which she herself forbade. Since Doctor Strange was similar to her in her breaking the laws of nature to save the world, she believed that he and Mordo, the latter of which was completely devoted to following her rules, would need to balance each other out in order for them to protect the world when she died. Powers and Abilities Powers *'Master Sorcerer': As the Sorcerer Supreme, the Ancient One, is the leader and one of the most powerful Masters of the Mystic Arts, possessing a considerable mastery of the mystic arts, which she uses to defend her native reality from threats from other dimensions of the Multiverse. With the help of numerous mystical artifacts and relics, in addition to her astral powers, the Ancient One is able to gain access to a multitude of mystical powers. ** Eldritch Magic Manipulation: the Ancient One is able to create, shape and manipulate Eldritch Magic. **'Teleportation': Using a Sling Ring, the Ancient One is able to open a fiery portal to another location, gaining ability to move tremendous distances instantaneously. **'Inter-Dimensional Travel': Using the same Sling Ring, the Ancient One can travel between different dimensions and universes, crossing over different planes of existence or travelling across various forms of reality. **'Astral Projection': The Ancient One is capable of separating her astral spirit from his body, gaining access to the Astral Dimension, being able to speak to Doctor Strange's spirit before her clinical death. **'Immortality': The Ancient One achieved immortality by drawing power from the Dark Dimension to fuel her long life. However, this form of immortality only suppresses the aging process, meaning that she can still be fatally injured. She was notably resilient enough to not be killed instantly by falling from great height after being stabbed through the torso by Kaecilius. Furthermore, she lasted several minutes afterwards to be brought into an operating table, just so she could astral project and watch the snow fall outside before her clinical death. Abilities *'Master Martial Artist': *'Multilingualism': The Ancient One could speak English and Chinese. Equipment *'Sling Ring': A mystical object which enables the wearer to open a fiery portal to another location. *'Magic Fans': Two ordinary fans she channels her magic through to wield as weapons. When in use, they emit an aura of orange sparks. The way the are fanned out can be easily changed easily during battle and they can be fully extended them into shields. Relationships Allies *Masters of the Mystic Arts - Disciples **Karl Mordo **Wong **Daniel Drumm † **Tina Minoru **Sol Rama † **Hamir **Doctor Strange **Kamar-Taj Librarian † *Christine Palmer *Nicodemus West Enemies *Dragon Raiders **Jiãó ào Zhànshì *Zealots **Kaecilius † - Former Disciple turned Enemy and Killer **Lucian † *Dormammu Trivia *In the comics, the Ancient One was the previous holder of the title of Sorcerer Supreme who transcended into the spiritual plane after his death, becoming a minor cosmic entity. *The mark that forms on the Ancient One's forehead and her ageless life are both references to the comics, as both the Ancient One and Doctor Strange passed a test of the entity Death, earning them an ageless life, and an ankh-shaped mark on their foreheads only appeared when their lives were in dire jeopardy. Behind the Scenes *Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has stated that in the Marvel Cinematic Universe there have been several individuals who have held the title of The Ancient One throughout the ages: "As we were developing this film we looked at The Ancient One as a mantle more than a specific person. The sorcerers have been around for millennia, protecting us from things we didn’t know about until this story. There have been multiple Ones, even if this one has been around for five hundred years, there were others. This is a mantle, and therefore felt we had leeway to cast in interesting ways."Expect “Mind-Bending Weirdness” From DOCTOR STRANGE, Says Kevin Feige *The casting of Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One has been the subject of much controversy, with many accusing it of . Screenwriter C. Robert Cargill explained that the motivation behind the casting was that the character in the comics is considered a racist caricature originating from , a country that has suffered much political unrest : "The Ancient One was a racist stereotype who comes from a region of the world that is in a very weird political place. He originates from Tibet. So if you acknowledge that Tibet is a place and that he’s Tibetan, you risk alienating one billion people who think that that’s bullshit and risk the Chinese government going, ‘Hey, you know one of the biggest film-watching countries in the world? We’re not going to show your movie because you decided to get political.’ If we decide to go the other way and cater to China in particular and have him be in Tibet… If you think it’s a good idea to cast a Chinese actress as a Tibetan character, you are out of your damn fool mind and have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about."EXCLUSIVE! DR. STRANGE WRITER “C. ROBERT CARGILL" - Double Toasted Interview Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige also stated that the character's race and gender were changed to avoid stereotyping: "The casting of The Ancient One was a major topic of conversation in the development and the creative process of the story. We didn’t want to play into any of the stereotypes found in the comic books, some of which go back as far as 50 years or more. We felt the idea of gender swapping the role of The Ancient One was exciting. It opened up possibilities, it was a fresh way into this old and very typical storyline. Why not make the wisest bestower of knowledge in the universe to our heroes in the particular film a woman instead of a man?".Kevin Feige On ‘Captain America: Civil War’ And All Things Marvel – Deadline Q&A * , and were originally considered for the role.Morgan Freeman Among Those Eyed For 'The Ancient One' Role In DOCTOR STRANGE References External Links * * Category:Doctor Strange (film) Characters Category:Comics Characters Category:Humans Category:Females Category:Bald Hair Category:Green Eyes Category:Masters of the Mystic Arts Leaders Category:Sorcerer Supreme Category:Multilingual Characters Category:Deceased Characters Category:Characters Killed by Kaecilius